


underwater

by marinacourage



Category: TREASURE (Korea Band), YG Treasure Box (TV)
Genre: Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, Multi, if only haruto could keep his mouth shut but we all know he can't, mashikyu later on, merman!jeongwoo, merman!junghwan, merman!yedam, this boy really knows how to get in trouble huh, treasure 13 squad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 12:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19251619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marinacourage/pseuds/marinacourage
Summary: his brothers always told him, beware of the people kin, they are evil, they will be the end of you. sadly jeongwoo is really, but really bad at being blindly obedient, and now he needs to see the consequences of that.or, jeongwoo saves the drowning human once and that changes his life forever, and the human isn't even that cute in the first place





	underwater

his brothers always told him, beware of the people kin. don't ever let them see you, or they will destroy you and everything you love. humans are our the enemy.

 

they repeated it so often that the words became a mindless mantra in his head. it got all more ridiculous when he and junghwan found a long since sunken ship and started playing with the broken human devices there, not minding a couple of dead bodies floating around. they didn't scare young mermen in the slightest. they were still, quiet and, well, very much dead, they couldn't do the living any harm anymore. 

 

jeongwoo didn't ever think much about humans. strange tailless creatures that sometimes happen to disturb the most upper waters of their part of the ocean, they never do anything exciting enough to capture his attention, at least when they are on their own and not using some terrifying monsters they call cruisers. once or twice he spied on them on the early morning hours with junghwan and some young meres from other families, but got bored real quick. he'd rather spend more time sleeping or hanging out with a huge grumpy old whale in the far east of the cold water flow than staring at the couples strolling along the beach at dawn on their really creepy variation of a tail — a pair of bendy chopsticks growing right out of their middle body. both he and his little brother agree that it's a disgusting sight, even though jeongwoo knows a curious glint in hwannie's eyes when he sees one.

 

all in all, human people are overrated, and jeongwoo couldn't imagine ever having any business with them, like ever.

 

that's probably why his heart very dramatically stopped and exploded when jeongwoo found himself with a handful of a people person in the middle of a hot summer day not far from the secluded cave on the sandy beach — mere kids' favourite hiding spot. 

 

the human was tall and lanky like some fat overgrown seaweed, and he was as motionless as those dead men inside the sunken ship that jeongwoo saw as his playground, but the thing was, this human's body was still warm and there was a steady thumping of a living heart under jeongwoo's hand where it connected with the other creature's chest. it was fighting for survival, it was desperate. and as much as jeongwoo wanted to push the body away and fleet the scene, he couldn't make himself do so. 

 

he was so scared his tail went numb, his skin was covered in goosebumps and his eyes seemed to might never blink again. his instincts screamed into his ears, begging him to run, but yedam was right every time he called jeongwoo too stubborn for his own good, a true genius indeed. he just couldn't leave someone to die, and even with that small amount of interest jeongwoo held towards people he knew those weaklings can't exactly breathe underwater, and he's not gonna become the reason for someone's death if he can prevent it, not today, not ever.

 

jeongwoo sighed, trying not to look at the boy in his arms, gathered all his will and started pulling the human up, to the light barely seen from the depth of the waters. 

 

he will just push the guy upwards, check on him to have a breath of air and immediately hide in the darkness of the ocean, that's what jeongwoo told himself. easy, really, peace of cake. so much easier than trying to win over the dolphins at their unnecessarily complicated games. or that's what he thought at least.

 

but as they were already mere seconds from reaching the surface the guy opened his eyes, suddenly, totally unexpectedly. jeongwoo nearly screamed right into his face, but the fear took his breath away. the fear, and something else, something tiny but itchy, crawling down his throat to his stone cold heart. 

 

the other boy also seemed shocked, but not too shocked not to start squirming and try to get away from jeongwoo's hold. what a problematic creature, huh. the human's face looked like jeongwoo was trying to drown him, not save, and the merman's fear quickly transformed into annoyance. that ungrateful brat! as the stranger kicked his tail, surprisingly hard for a dying weakling, jeongwoo regretted not listening to yedam's warnings to stay away from people at any circumstances. looking how this boy was fighting his help, saving him was not worth it in the slightest. but jeongwoo has almost reached the water surface already, it would've been such a shame just to leave this unruly creature here. 

 

with the last strong pushes of his tail jeongwoo swam up and seconds later he was able to feel the hot sun on his cheeks. he let the guy go as he was frantically trying to catch a breather, coughing and wiping his face harshly. they were so close to the shore the waves brought the boy's exhausted body to the solid ground themselves, thank neptun.

one last look at the human and jeongwoo disappeared back into the ocean with a strong swish of his tail. he didn't hear the guy calling for him with a broken hoarse voice. he's gonna get in such a trouble for this for sure, he'll never see the light again. he could only pray this boy will think of it all as of his panicked fantasy and won't remember ever meeting him in the morning. 

 

jeongwoo thought that all what happened was written all over his stupidly honest terrified face, but his brothers surprisingly didn't notice anything odd. hyunsuk just asked worriedly if he ate something he was not supposed to eat, again, and patted him on the back soothingly, telling him to get more rest today. oh boy did he need it. 

 

all jeongwoo wanted was to erase this day from his memory completely, he truly did, but somehow right before falling asleep in his imagination he saw the human's face so vividly as if he was still there right beside him, fighting for his life. and it would've been perfectly fine if only the eyes of that person, dark like the coldest night and hypnotising like the waves before the storm, didn't pull him in even as a simple memory.

 

he knew what he did was stupid and extremely dangerous, and it's gonna bite him back sometime, definitely. 

 

but he also knew deep in the still waters of his heart that he will come back to the same ocean coast tomorrow. he has to.

 

his brothers were right. beware of the people kin, as the most handsome of them are the most dangerous. 

 

haruto was always kind of a mystery to everyone around, but this behaviour was freaky even for him. yoshinori stood up from the ground and patted his legs with a tired sigh. they were hanging out on this beach for hours already and for what? haruto and his paranoid fantasy about being saved by a mermaid? that's outright ridiculous, and that was what keita told him, shutting his door right in front of the kid's face at 5 in the morning. who in their right mind will go mermaid hunting at that ungodly hour? only the drowning survivor who is most probably still in a state of shock. and his worried sidekick of a friend maybe. yoshinori really didn't want to leave the boy alone with that weird glitch in his eyes. who knows if the idiot will try to go into the sea again just to prove the others he really saw a mere. 

 

they should've insisted for him to go to the hospital after all. 

 

— he had that chestnut hair that was looking reddish in the water and bronze skin, and his eyes were squinted just like cats do when they look at the light. and the tail, obviously.

— obviously, — yoshinori repeats, rolling his eyes. his hot-dog is getting summer warm and disgustingly mushy and he wants to have some real food, at home, asap. haruto doesn't share his sentiment though.

— i guess he is very strong since he managed to pull me out of the water even though i was trying to get away from him. but he sure looked pissed as hell. i wonder why.

— yeah, you were fighting him and he was pissed, such an abnormality. nearly as abnormal as him being a merman. — yoshinori honestly doesn't know why he plays along, but maybe that's what he's just used to — taking care of the younger and entertaining him. his huge soft spot for the kid is enough to tolerate the most quirky behaviour of his, and imagining seeing a fairytale creatures is honestly rather low on the list of the odd things haruto's done in his life so far.

— i must find him, i am sure he'll come back. 

haruto is staring intently into the ocean just as he's been for the last couple of hours. yoshinori takes a bite of his food and chews slowly.

— isn't it more logical to stay away from here if he's a merman? they are usually not so fond of people and they for sure don't like to be seen.

— yes, true, but also wouldn't you want to know if the person you saved survived and is feeling well?

— but didn't you say he was pissed at you?

— you are also often pissed at me but you still always check on me if something happens.

— because i know you since you were shorter than keita, i had some time to get used to you being annoying, unlike your unlucky saviour. 

— excuse me, he was very lucky to save a life, he's a hero!

— i doubt he thinks so though.

— i don't care. i do think so and that's what matters. — haruto stops drawing childish signs in the sand and turns to him to point his boney finger at his chest. — you should be thankful too, he saved your beloved brother.

— yeah, yeah, he's the true superman. or supermerman, whatever, can we just go already? i am a bit tired and have lots of work to do at home still. you can come back later if you want, but the hottest hours are starting soon and i don't want you to have a sunstroke, again.

— ugh, okay mom, if you insist. i'll come back tomorrow before school i guess. — as haruto stands up and shakes the sand off his clothes he repeats exactly that but louder, hoping the sea creature hears him. — i'll come back, so please show yourself then, i'll be waiting. 

yoshinori just shakes his head and hooks his arm on haruto's shoulder, leading him away and thinking how to break out to him that his fantasy is just a trick of his stressed imagination gently. 

 

at the same moment one young mere is curling into himself, hiding on an ocean bottom some ten steps away from the pair, and tries to stop hot tears flowing from his eyes like waterfalls. he's scared as hell, he's mortified, but mostly he's just unbelievably angry. how dares that guy to tell such a secret so easily? so he's just gonna go and tell everybody about the mere people? hell. soon the whole city will know, then the country. they might take their waters away, chase them and kill them, like all the fish and other sea creatures they are hunting for food and other unbelievable things. 

 

humans are the worst, yedam was thousands of times right. he should've just let him die. he should've killed him himself, damnit!

 

the guy's deep soft voice is still booming in his chest like an afterwave, "i'll be waiting". jeongwoo hugs himself tighter and weeps. he can see the dead eyes and cold bodies of his brothers so clearly his tail trembles in pain.

 

but he knows what to do, he's heard the stories, he knows what his kin does when a mere fucks up like that, and he knows who will help him make sure the guy he saved realises there's no mermen around, just simple people, with two legs and no tails and the same reddish hair and bronze skin he remembers.

 

the human boy will be waiting for him. and jeongwoo will wait for him too.

**Author's Note:**

> this idea couldn't let me go. english is not my first and not even second language, so i'm sorry for any grammar mistakes of strange words combinations, i just really want to share this story. 
> 
> you can find me on twt @/screamaryia


End file.
